Grandpa Lee's Miniatures
How to apply exterior trim By now everyone is more or less comfortable with measuring and cutting, and while working on the outside still requires close attention, it is somewhat easier to do than most other jobs. If you want to get fancy and add a few extra pieces of trim, as we're doing in this house, you may find yourself running low on decorative molding. Don't worry, you can always buy long strips at reasonable prices at any
building supply store. An example is shown here in the stained piece with "dots" above the window. It's also OK to mix patterns and size slightly as long as you use the same pattern in related areas such as one type on color transitions, another for window sills etc. Save the longest left over pieces normally called "drops". They can be butt glued, sanded and painted to look as good as new if you find yourself running low.
Windows We ended the last page discussing windows briefly so it's probably best to go ahead and get them installed and trimmed inside and out at this time. Some kits provide mitered and grooved frame pieces that have to be glued, others offer square cutouts between which the "glass" is glued. Some windows are intended to slide up and down although once installed they are rarely opened. Our model uses steel rule stampings for window frames intended to slide. These have to be carefully sanded and stained or painted. The "glass" for each is cut with scissors from a printed plastic sheet and then sandwiched for gluing between inner and outer wooden cutouts. Take care cutting the "glass" as most panels share common edges. They are also often printed with a top pattern that is usually intended for the upper panel. If they are sliding windows the kit maker will provide grooved posts that go on either side of the window. Center posts will be grooved on both sides to accommodate adjacent windows. Take extra care in identifying and positioning all this before final installation to be certain that spacing is uniform, square, and free of gaps, but not too tight. Once windows are in to your satisfaction additional trim can be added inside and out to the top, bottom and sides as provided or as you like. Use the windows in your real house as a guide. Shutters are also usually provided with the kit and if used they can be plain or embellished any way you like; two tone, layered, louvered, decorative designs etc.
Colors A reminder that if in doubt about color selection the picture on the box the kit came in will serve as a safe guide. Also as suggested many times it's important to prefinish all trim strips of a contrasting color as much as possible before gluing to avoid the tedious and difficult job of later trying to paint without touching adjacent surfaces. Long strips like the green corner strips shown next can be brushed, but dipping is a lot faster and covers much better. Even the porch railings shown in the last photo below were pre assembled and then dipped. Anybody want to use a brush on these babies?
Trim You will have to apply trim to every external corner to get a finished look and you will have to cut every piece to length; many with angular ends. Most mitered joints are at a simple 45 degrees, but not all. When you run into the occasional odd angle you must lay it out for the trim edges to line up properly. Trust your eye
if you feel up to it, but a protractor or rare adjustable miter saw is the only way to be sure of cutting at the correct angle. Some kind of transition trim is also often required even on continuous flat surfaces in order to hide splices and color changes as shown in the upper left hand corner of this photo. Note the trim on the edges of the roof which is equally necessary for a finished look. Sometimes it's almost impossible to "clamp" a piece of trim while the glue dries. This is especially true on inside corners also shown here. It may not be elegant, but in this case I simply turned the house on end and held long corner trim pieces in place with weights.
Porch The construction of porch railings and frills seems obvious enough but can easily go wrong. The kit builder of this model intended the second level porch to be only a small balcony with roofing over the rest of it. I modified it to a full second deck as shown because I think this not only looks better but offers more furnishing options as well, and frankly it was a lot less work to do it this way. To the manufacturers credit, they always include more exterior trim
than you are likely to need on the assumption (usually right) that you will ruin some of it. They correctly find that it's easier to include extras to begin with than to have you ask for more later. So, if you're careful there's always enough trim to allow a little creativity like this. On the down side of this 'from scratch' construction, every single tiny piece has to be cut from a strip and assembled. Once cut, extra care then has to be taken to first keep subassemblies dimensionally accurate and square and then applied squarely in proper alignment and in exact position on the main structure, all of which goes a long way towards explaining the need for all the clamps shown here holding one simple railing in place against angle irons and a straight edge while the glue dries.
Stonework You may recall that we finished the foundation brickwork early on to avoid having to work around adjacent finished surfaces later. The chimney stonework is now done the same way on the completed chimney assembly before attaching it to the house. Follow the manufacturers instructions as before and be generous with grit in the grit/glue ratio to avoid "bald" spots. However, contrary to some instructions that call for black "grouting", prepaint the chimney with a noticeably lighter shade of gray before application of the stone mixture to simulate mortar. This will result in a much more natural look. Hint You can make your own stone paste by mixing equal portions of water, water based glue, water based paint of your preferred color and clean fine sand or grit such as you might find in an aquarium store. Make it "peanut butter" thick and paint it on rather than troweling it on as your booklet is likely to suggest.
The lines are your friend Finally we've made it to the last major task-the roof. Start by evenly dividing every roof section into horizontal lines ranging in parallel separation of between 7/8" & 1", but no more or less. If you go over an inch the shingles won't overlap and if you go less the roof will take on a bulky look. Most important, the lines must continue on the same horizon around 90 degree corners for the proper end result as shown below. Unfortunately, this may prevent spacing from being even near the tops of intersecting roof sections such as dormers. When this happens you may have to steal or add slightly to the last several rows in order to compensate visually and to avoid having to shorten every shingle for an entire row. Rely on your best judgment to make this compromise as seamless as possible.
Shingles A large bag of natural wood shingles will be included with your kit. It will contain enough to cover the roof completely and at least half again, but being a natural material cleaved in automated machines at high speeds you will find that many shingles are broken, split and either too thick or too thin. Cull out the bad ones but don't discard them just yet, some, such as split ones can be used to start alternate rows and will come in handy later. If you are conservative you will end up with half a bag left over that can be used for eventual repairs or perhaps for another project of your own design.
Put em on right This is one application where I feel it is safe to use hot melt glue. It's fast, effective and you can work continuously. You will end up with a few hair like glue stringers but they are easy to clean off and are a small price to pay for the added efficiency. Always start from the bottom and work up from the outer edges being careful not to get ahead of yourself. When you come to an angular change in direction resist the temptation to creep up hill with a full length shingle. Instead, cut a matching angle with an ordinary pair of scissors keeping the top edge of the shingle on line. Every shingle also needs to overlap where the two below come together so begin every other row with a half wide shingle. If you end up with good alignment at the top you need do no more, but if there's a tiny gap at the peak run a small diameter round or square stick along the ridge line for a completed look. Decorative scroll sometimes supplied with kits for this purpose can also be used although the latter detracts from a sense of realism.
Almost there Just a couple of things to clean up and the outside is done! I've added white baseboard cut from the original
knockout sheets around the inside of the porch for an added touch along with a porch swing made from scraps just for the heck of it. Flags, an eagle, window boxes with flowers, hanging flower pots, gutters, roosting birds, a dinner bell, ivy on the chimney, and so on are just a few of the little extras you can add to the outside for dramatic year round flair. Seasonal themes are also nice. Scaled pumpkins, corn stalks made from dried grass, and ghosts at Halloween, Christmas lights with a manger scene and similar ideas will keep your little house the center of attraction all year round. Some dedicated hobbyists go so far as to simulate rusted hardware, broken windows, weathered siding and more for that special "authentic" look. That's great stuff, but a bit beyond the scope here. However, I did make one concession for the sake of realism. These particular roofing shingles seemed too "bright" and varied in color out of the bag, as they often are, so I mixed up a potion of water based wood stain, black water based paint and plain water in equal amounts for a roof wash to even out and subdue its appearance.